


These Ties That Bind Bear Jewels (as proof that greater love lies further deep)

by Some_Impossible_Fairytale



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Greek Mythology, BAMF Caroline Forbes, Domestic Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson, Elijah just wants an easy life, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Hades/ Persephone AU, Klaus is an eager puppy, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2017-03-17
Packaged: 2018-09-23 19:46:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9673334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Some_Impossible_Fairytale/pseuds/Some_Impossible_Fairytale
Summary: Persephone/ Hades AUCaroline, Goddess of Spring has just returned from her first time in her new husband's realm. Notably upset by this series of events and how useless the others were Caroline doesn't plan on staying married to Klaus, King of the Dead for very long. Over the next six months, Caroline's determined to find a way out and doesn't expect to find herself failing...or rather falling.





	1. Caught in a Bad Romance

**_Not only did he promise love and jewels, he offered her the power to make her own decisions, a sense of freedom in a world made of rules and chains, and any woman would take it_ **

**Month I**

‘If we kill him, would he still reside in the Underworld or do you think he’d disappear from reality altogether?” Persephone pondered aloud. She turned away from the windows of the sunroom to look at her dearest friend. Hecate  was sitting cross legged on a cushion in a shaded corner. Nobody on Olympus called her Persephone anymore, except her mother. It was more of an official title, for when she acted as a Goddess.  That name was so….ancient.

Besides names held power. It was easier, in the bear pit of Olympus, not to use true names. The fact that they had all chosen their new names, meant their fellow Gods could cause them no true harm that way. Also, it was far easier to hear the prayers of mortals for help. Soon after the 21st century had dawned she had chosen the name Caroline. Just as Hecate had picked the name Bonnie. Aphrodite was now Elena and her less than moral counterpart Eris had become Katherine. They’d all moved with the times. Even, and here Caroline supressed a shudder, her husband. Klaus, King of the land which still held his ancient name, Hades.

Caroline’s only been back above ground a week. The first thing she did, to the great upset of her mother Liz, was destroy all the pomegranate trees. She’d always adored them. It had cut her to the quick to do it, but after what he’d done, what Elijah, King of the Gods, had agreed to, she couldn’t stand the sight of them. Besides, she hoped that Apollo, or Enzo as he called himself now was making use of his omnipotence to tell everyone that she’d used her new powers as Queen to destroy the very means of her entrapment. She hoped viciously that someone would tell Klaus. She hoped it hurt that she was severing the fucking fruit that bound them together for eternity.

And when Jeremy came in six months time to escort her, kicking and screaming back down to hell, she’d destroy all the pomegranates down there too.

The thing is, when Caroline was given care of Spring, Elijah knew what he was doing. She’s the best organiser in the Pantheon and everyone knows it. Flowers may grow wherever Elena treads on the ground but they die within five minutes and she’s too busy deciding between those brothers of hers to tend to them. Caroline’s got a little under six months to find a way to crack this marriage contract which is why after she got away from her mom’s chokehold hug, she’d tracked down Hecate. Which is why the two of them were now sequestered away in her chambers poring over every law they could find.

Bonnie sighed, “Can you stop pacing, you’re giving me a headache” Although Caroline stopped in the middle of the floor she continued to glare at Bonnie till she answered the question.

“You can’t kill Klaus Caroline. He’s one of the ancient triad; Elijah and Finn wouldn’t stand for it.”

“Fine” Caroline snapped before stating resoluting “Then I’ll just gather all the evidence and get Dice to represent me at a trial. Divorce over killing Death will have to do. I wonder if I could take the Underworld from him as part of the settlement”. A wicked smile played across her perfect pink lips at this statement, and Bonnie silently thought that Caroline was probably well suited to doling out punishments.

“If Elena can’t get a divorce from Stefan so that she can be with Damon, you haven’t got a hope in well…hell” Both Goddesses look up sharply to find Enzo smirking sunnily in the doorway. Caroline narrows her eyes when a tulip, which had a stubbornly refused to bloom for her pops open in response.

“Hello Gorgeous.”

Caroline continues to scowl at him, giving her best brief ‘fuck you’ smile. She and Enzo have always gotten along, he’s one of the most steady people in her life, often helping her with the flowers and keeps the flirting comfortable. Her mom told her how Enzo had searched and searched for her. But Bonnie and Jeremy were the ones to find her, not him.

The smile he’s wearing drops almost immediately and he nods at Bonnie past her left shoulder, who obligingly disappears in a puff of smoke. Traitor. Wafting the bonfire smell away from her precious peonies, Caroline raises an eyebrow at Enzo. “I’m so sorry Care,” He begins, all levity gone “I tried everything. I missed you like crazy and I’m sorry I-“

Caroline bristles at her nickname. The mortals call her Kore, which is where it had come from but she refuses to wilt at the sound of it after so long. “I had to marry him, Enzo.”

The words fall between them like lead. Enzo had gone from apologetic to heartbroken. He’d cherished hopes of marrying her once after all. “I had to marry him. I have to go back to him in six months, if I don’t-“

“Bloody hell” he whispers. Then he’s across the room in a flash, taking her hands in his. “No, Gorgeous. No. Screw him, I’ll talk to Elijah, to the Fates. I’ll help you get out of this I promise.” He speaks with such touching earnest that Caroline can’t help but believe him. “I promise, Caroline” She hugs him tight, and cries into Enzo’s shoulder because he’s her best friend and they haven’t seen each other in six months and its not his fault the senior Gods are psychopaths.

Ω

**Month II**

“The marriage stands” Elijah declares from his golden throne a month later. He sits higher than the other twelve, face implacable. Caroline grits her teeth and tightens her hold on Enzo’s hand in tandem. She’d expected as much but she’d clung to the hope all the same. The mortals have gotten so much of it so, so wrong. Persephone is not Zeus’ daughter, he owes her no familial bond. But Zeus, Poseidon and Hades are indeed brothers. After they defeated Mikael, they have continued to stand together always. So what Klaus wants, in return for taking death and solitude without complaint, Klaus gets.

Caroline, Liz, Bonnie and Enzo have spent all this time coming up with long reasonable arguments. You would think the fact that Klaus had popped out of the ground, physically abducted her and then held her captive for months before she was found and ensured she would have to go back would be enough. But Olympus is a screwed up place and Liz had told Caroline again and again that they’d really have to argue their case. But evidently to Elijah, the fact that Liz could upset the Earth’s balance to the extent that their worshippers were destroyed from hunger  for half a year was a decent price to pay for family unity and his brother’s happiness.

Screw that. At Elijah’s words, Caroline’s plan B goes into overdrive. Klaus won’t touch her. He’d never tried, because he wants her to come willingly he’d said.

As if.

Besides with her new powers – the one benefit of her marriage – is definitely fireballs and granting eternal damnation, its not as if he’s wont to try. No. She’ll make his eternity a misery until she gets the divorce she wants.

Out of the corner of her eye, Caroline sees Elena smile, supposedly at Stefan. In reality though Caroline knows its because Elena is glad that if she’s trapped in a loveless marriage, she can never outdo Elena. Elena, who’s everyone’s first choice who has had the King of the Gods, the God of War and God of Fire at her beck and call. Caroline’s eyes shift to Stefan himself, a man caught in the middle. He loves his wife with everything he has but given her ongoing whatever with his more handsome, dangerous brother he’s become more withdrawn. He’s always been kind to her certainly. But from what she’s heard from Dionysus (Kol has always been a notorious gossiper, but that’s probably because his best friend is Pheme) Stefan and her new groom are quite good friends. Caroline can’t help but feel sorry for Stefan – he’s not even ugly or deformed as the mortals claim. But she thinks Damon’s boasting is the cause of that.

Katherine’s smiling too but then that’s just because she’s Katherine.

Ignoring Elena, her mother and everyone else, Caroline trains her gaze on Elijah once more. Beside him, Hayley – whose never liked Caroline anyway, reaches out to squeeze her husband’s hand. As Goddess of Marriage, Caroline wouldn’t be surprised if this whole mess was Queen Hayley’s idea. Keeping a tight hold on Enzo, who looks like he wants to start a murder spree, Caroline curtseys and waits for the royal couple to leave the throne room.

The one thing Elijah seems to have forgotten is that when Caroline is told she can’t do something, she proves everybody wrong.

Ω

**Month III**

_You don’t have to curtsey to Elijah and Hayley anymore, sweetheart. You’re royalty now too. Please accept this as a reminder of whose heart you hold and power you share. – Your aeterna amor, K._

That single line is all that graces the parchment that the raven’s just brought her. In the months of her return Caroline had realised that whilst he couldn’t see her, Klaus intended to inundate her in other ways. A raven, Klaus’ chosen birds, arrived every week bearing letters and gifts. Caroline never opened the letters but kept a nice pile of them. This was so that when the other married ones took along offerings to Hayley to bless their marriages or surprise their spouses with their devotion, she could burn the letters and in that way send them back to her husband. It was her own private screw you to the establishment.

Once Klaus had realised she wasn’t opening the letters, he started sending postcards and bare parchment tied to the ravens necks. It had taken four ravens to deliver this week’s present. The other three have already gone back to their master. At least, Caroline assumes they’ve gone back. Given the fact that he knows about the incident with Elijah, for all she knows he has them spy around Olympus for him. He already has the Fates living in his palace, she can’t imagine her husband lets his siblings attend to their affairs without her knowledge.

Catching herself referring to Klaus as her husband so casually, Caroline winces. She was forced into this. She’d rather be a Goddess of Weeds than be caught admiring Klaus. It’s the gifts Caroline has trouble with. Letters she can ignore, just as she gave him the iciest of shoulders in the palace. She caused winter on Earth, she can damn well cause hell to freeze over too. But presents are her weak spot. She never wore anything for him but Klaus gives sumptuous presents. For her birthday her mother had given her a glade, Enzo had given her a wolf, Bonnie had created a flower than bloomed only in moonlight. Rebekah, as Goddess of the Hunt had given her a splendid silver bow that never missed.

 None of those compared to Klaus presents. They get more and more extravagant as time goes on.

The crown outshines any garland Caroline could create. The platinum is shaped like a wreath, wrought to bear laurel leaves encrusted with diamonds and rubies sculpted into roses bloom along it. It’s perfect. Initially the gems – which had shocked her, it was rare even for a Goddess to see so many gemstones - had been garish. She’d forgotten that Klaus controlled all precious gems beneath the soil. This delicate crown is far more her. Caroline’s never seen anything like it on Olympus or Earth. Her family and friends had all given her things that they’d know she liked but each represented their affection for her. Not Caroline herself. This was different. Klaus had taken one of his own mediums, his gemstones and turned them into something that represented Caroline. He’d listened to her, paid tribute to her attributes rather than his own.

She can never wear it of course. Wearing it means accepting it. Accepting this. But she can admire it, just as she admires her beautiful plants. And, if Klaus is watching, wearing it will encourage him. But Liz raised Caroline to be gracious and good. Surely a thank you note, for this particular piece, or at least an acknowledgement of its beauty isn’t too far? She wants rid of him but from what she’s seen the harder she pulls the harder he’ll try. They’re both equally as stubborn that’s for sure.

She should send all the presents back unopened. Tell him to stop. But the look on the other Goddesses faces when they’d seen all the presents lying open in her room had been priceless.  She needs to know how to play this, play him. If she blows hot and cold in turn, sees which one she gets the best reaction from, then she’ll know how to get the divorce.

A thank you note then. Because then he’ll send similar pieces. Which she’ll never wear.

Also the words. They’ve stoked the flame inside her. She is a Queen now, something they can never take away. On equal footing with Hayley and above Elena. Maybe she should wear the crown like he suggests.

Recoiling at the dangerous unbidden thought, Caroline sets the remarkable piece on her dresser and sets about attempting to recreate it instead.

She’s on her fiftieth attempt when Enzo walks in. The plan had been to send the raven back with a real life version of Klaus’ creation and some witty jibe about how he should study life more carefully. At this point however, she’s calmed down enough to realise how cruel that would be. Klaus hasn’t seen anything alive in a thousand years, through no fault of his own. Also, no matter how hard she tries, the roses and laurel won’t co-operate. Her hands are scratched by thorns and shaking with effort.

“What the hell are you doing Gorgeous?” She gestures wearily between the gift and the vases she’s filled, too sleepy for a real explanation. Rolling his eyes, Enzo produces a skin of nectar. Swiftly uncorking it he pours two glasses and shoves one at her. After a few sips, Caroline feels revived, her golden scrapes healing along her hands until the skin is whole and creamy once more.

Once he’s satisfied with her health, Enzo swaggers over to the dresser and lifts the crown up to inspect it. He handles it with such ease Caroline’s terrified he’ll drop it. Stefan might not be able to fix it. Seeing the terror in her face Enzo walks more carefully (he’s interested now, as to what precisely did happen in the Underworld for all those months) and places it on her head.

“Wow”

“What?” she asks nervously “I look stupid right?” her hands flutter up to touch the roses but halts when Enzo shakes his head. “Perfection.”

There’s a gasp at the door and Enzo groans when he spots his twin in the doorway. Rebekah strides in, dropping her bow with a clatter and pulling the crown out of Caroline’s grasp. “This is stunning! Did Nik send you this?” Caroline’s never understood Rebekah’s fondness for Klaus. He was the one who suggested she be made chaste Goddess of the Hunt yet she doesn’t hate him for it.

Caroline only nods. Once Enzo’s finally prized the item out of his sister’s hands and restored it to the rightful owner, Rebekah calms down enough to remember why she’d sought them out. “Elijah and the others are having a private meeting. I was wondering if you wanted to try and sneak a vine in?”

Before her kidnapping Caroline had been trying to work on getting her plants to speak to her to no avail. “No. No good, sorry Bekah.” Caroline replies sadly, beckoning to the Raven so she can tie the rosemary scented note ( _It’s beautiful_ , was all she’d had the courage to acknowledge) to it. She’s starting off sweet, a bit of a mixed message to lull him into a false sense of security.

Enzo makes a noise of disgust at the sight of the bird and tries to shoo it away.

“You killed the poor girl Enzo. The ravens just told you about her other lover” At Enzo’s corresponding glare his sister shuts up. Caroline strokes the poor thing’s wing feather back the right way after it had tried to get away from its former master.

“Get back to Hades with your prattle” he told it as the bird looked beseechingly up at him. Caroline was surprised however, when the bird ignored him and turned its gaze to her instead. “What is your will Mistress?” it asked soft and eager.

Oh _. Oh._

Ravens did Klaus’ bidding. As his wife, they had now apparently been told to do her bidding as well.

That was…well that was kind of awesome really.  And it gave her an idea….

Elijah thought nothing of it when the raven entered the throne room. His brother was so busy all the time that he often send ravens to represent him.

“Elena, you will have to speak to Elizabeth and Caroline. She is your friend and Klaus my brother. He’s been so busy lately the ravens have been fewer and fewer. I allowed him to marry the Goddess of his choice so that he would be happier. Strife in the marriage bed at the beginning of their union is not a good sign”

“Neither was the six month time limit” Hayley added darkly from her chair, “How stupid is Niklaus to trick her into eating the food anyway?”

“He could’ve picked someone more amenable” Damon added “Liz was a mess when it went down. At least Caroline’s useless enough that six months is no small sacrifice. There’s more interesting ways for humans to decimate themselves than not being able to eat. Couldn’t we just get Liz another daughter?” he asked crassly. Elena protest loudly at the berating of her friend and, realising his mistake Damon spend the rest of the meeting trying to get his lover to speak to him again.  

Elijah sighed. It was times like this he missed Niklaus.

Ω

When Caroline returns to her chambers, she’s incensed. How could they? **How dare they**? Sitting around deciding her future like she was some prize to be won! 

She’d thought it was just Klaus acting independently, as Death always does but to find out it was an honest to them conspiracy!

She barely notices the new raven waiting on her bed, doesn’t until it caws softly for attention. Well…isn’t he eager? She thinks darkly; note crumpling in her hand in her anger. After a few seconds, she can smell burning and realises she’d actually set it on fire.

Throwing the charred remains back on her bed, Caroline calls for her raven and snatches a denim jacket to complement her sundress. She wants to see Jeremy, Klaus words ringing in her ears. Evidently the rosemary had struck a cord.

_Sweetheart, I’m a tad insulted you think I could ever forget you._

That puts a smile on her face. It shouldn’t given that she’s serious and he’s teasing (she’s got a horrible feeling that this will become the defining theme of their relationship) but nevertheless. Her evil plan is working.


	2. It wasn't Death that came for me, it was Love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I am blown away by your lovely comments everyone I’m so pleased you liked the first part. It was only meant to be a drabble and the a two parter. There will probably be only one or two more parts but yeah I can’t even pretend this is a drabble anymore. 
> 
> This isn't the full three months its only Month III continued and Month IV but I really wanted to get this posted for you guys. I hope you like it :)

 

**She looked so sweet but she had black eyes,**

**That charming little smile was surprisingly sly.**

**Month III Part II**

Caroline storms out of her mother’s palace and out into the streets of Olympus. It’s a beautiful day, as it always is (unless someone’s rejected Enzo) and this bugs Caroline. How could everything be so shiny and bright when she was having such a bad day?! She wanted some rain, some thunder and lightning! She was Nature itself and the world should reflect that, should feel that. As she closes the door she sees a veritable murder of ravens hastily take flight from her garden.

That. Does. It.

He’s spying on her now? Bastard!

 Striding past the various citizens of Olympus, she can hear a sound of cracking; the grind of stone on stone.

She had so often despised the subtlety of her power, wanted to show the others precisely what she could do. She worked her ass off, tried so hard and yet she was never the one people went for. A small part of her brain, that her anger tries to drown out, points out that Klaus had. A King had. She brushes it aside; thoughts of how the one time she is chosen; its by a shut in who carries her off to the land of death.

Now she revels in her powers. So often, sweet roses, lavender, thyme or rosemary, daffodils and daisies had followed her. But now, her anger gives root to poppies, belladonna and bloodflowers, oleander, crab’s eye and aconitum.  She’d have made Achlys proud.

Jeremy’s home is the closest to Elijah and Hayley’s because as Messenger of the Gods, he genuinely has no excuse of having better things to do than serve them. But because he’s here all the freaking time it also means his is an actual palace rather than the smaller grace and favour versions the rest of the Gods used when they visited. Klaus and Finn for instance never use their Olympian palaces except for family holidays/ crises. Which are often the same thing.

There were scores of admirers gazing up at Elena’s veranda but Damon’s keeping her far too busy for them. She could have tried Stefan for back up but she knows he’s no longer there. Elena’s with Damon meaning Stefan’s gone back to his cavernous forge to brood. He’s a good guy and Caroline cares about him but if he wants his epic love he’s got to get a grip.

Thinking about Stefan and Elena’s tricky marriage, Caroline can’t help but think about her own. Why Klaus singled her out as his choice. A dark, solitary guy liking a sunny person who likes people and who people actually like.

Caroline shrugs to herself. Must be a cave-dweller thing.

As she strides past the Pantheon, she can still hear them talking inside. She’s always known she’s one of the more dispensable immortals, higher than the Muses, the dryads and satyrs for example but not enough to be deemed vital.

Well that is about to change. She’ll claim Divorce as one of her patronages before the day is done. She doesn’t want to show her anger to Elijah and Hayley. Far better to stride into the Pantheon later on, dragging Klaus if she has to, divorce in hand. That’ll show them. Because even if Damon had called her useless she’d always been able to draw a crowd. And she may sound a tad obsessed, even to her own ears but she’s got a damn point to prove here.

Yes, she had planned to use the time at her disposal to manipulate a divorce out of Klaus. But unfortunately for her schedule and her husband, Caroline’s too angry. The time for careful consideration was so last month.

Mounting the steps to Jeremy’s palace, Caroline foregoes all ladylike courtesy in favour of hammering her fist on the door.

“Jeremy, get your ass out on this ridiculously lavish porch now!”

                                                                                                   Ω

“Caroline, sweetheart, is something wrong? I didn’t expect you back so soon or I would have –“ he’s smiling when he sees it’s her, a tug of the lips that’s like a flower blooming for the first time.

Both of them flinch when she punches him square in the face. It stops both of them in their paths, drawing together in elegant strides across the throne room. And while Klaus’ reason is fairly evident given the golden ichor flowing down from his nose, Caroline’s never thrown a punch in her life.

Considering the result, she’s really quite proud of her handiwork.  He’s dressed casually today, but rather than the typical black she’d come to associate with him, he wears a white Henley instead. The room is brighter than she remembered, highlighting his features.

She’d forgotten how hot he is. He’s stepped closer, removes his hand from where he’d been realigning his nose. The blood’s stopped already and she watches silently as he snaps his fingers, conjuring a cloth to wipe the remainder away. Its gone with another click and the whole time his eyes have never left hers. She’d forgotten they were blue too. Like a thunderstorm at sea.

“What’s happened?” he asks, and the softness of his voice unnerves her. Klaus is naturally soft spoken, she remembers that well enough. But it’s….its got this questioning edge to it usually. It’s  l’appel du vide personified, inviting you to jump even though you know how painful the consequence is. She used to hear it in this very room, when he was punishing evil souls or berating his minions. But this is earnest. He’s not trying to get anything out of her, he doesn’t want an edge, just wants to know what’s wrong.

“Someone’s upset you. Who was it?”

“You can’t kill them” she says distractedly, not looking at him. She’s too busy thinking of Elijah and Hayley who put family and peace of mind above her free will, her choice.

“We’re immortal love, of course I can’t kill them.” The lightness in his tone evaporates as he suddenly changes tack “Was it a mortal?”

Caroline denies this next question with such evident surprised vehemence that Klaus is the one that’s thrown. “You” she says so quietly, he has to ask her to repeat it. “I am still married to you” “And I am not back,” her voice loudens, talking over the sudden change in his expression, looking far more broken by those words than he had over having his face smashed in “I have three months to go. And then Hermes” she looks pointedly at the cavernous ceiling, “Will have to find me first and then cut through the hundreds of roots tying me to the Earth to get me back here”

The tenderness in Klaus’ eyes remains despite looking for all the world like somebody just strapped dynamite to Cerberus and blew the puppy up in front of his master. He looks like he wants to take hold of her, she sees Klaus’ fingers twitch out of the corner of her eye and she draws back a step. Dangerous thought that one.

“Why?”

Caroline’s anger returns full force and she remembers her reason for coming was to actually make him miserable. That’s the one flaw with immortality, emotions run higher. It’s why Enzo killed his lover in a fit of rage only to disappear in grief when he realised what he’d done. Why Stefan and Damon fight so often and so bitterly but Elena can make them go weak at the knees.

“Where do I start? You kidnapped me after gaining the King’s consent to make me your wife, rather than y’know _mine_ like a normal person! You trick me into eating seeds so I am forced to return here. I mean I have been planning my wedding since Themis married Peleus and I didn’t even get one because you were stalking me! A Goddess of Spring living in a place of death do you have any idea what that’s like?! Then you send your little birds to spy on me! Constantly!”

Klaus looks like she’s punched him again. He turns away from her, ascending the dais to his throne. There’s another next to it, one which she knows is her own, though she’s never used it. Whereas both are dark ebony his is broader, the wood thicker, elegantly carved but sports no other decoration. Her throne is a subtle contrast; the same height and wood but in more slender tones, with red roses curling round and round. “Why me?”

“I’m only trying to protect you” he sighs, as if that explains everything.

As if she couldn’t protect herself! Everyone always thinks plants are so passive but she was the one who created the Gympie Gympie for crying out loud.

“Because you put me in danger” she scoffs, though its half-hearted at best. It’s well known that the Ancient brothers are often at odds with each other and the Klaus is feared and despised. He controls the land of the dead and has rarely let anyone leave his realm. He’s a possessive man and she needs to remember that. No sympathetic likening him to puppies. Bad Caroline.

“I have enemies, even in Olympus. The powers you and I now share as a result of our marriage are more….offensive than your natural gifts. And faster working. But they’re weaker outside of our realm. The ravens ensure that I can get to you as fast as you saw me conjure up that handkerchief.”

Caroline’s not sure what to say to that so she decides that silence is the best option. To say that this is not going as she planned is the understatement of the century. Yeah he’d given her power but she had always been safe before. The others underestimated her and as much as it rankled her, it had never been a problem till Klaus had come along and surprised her. _He_ was the danger here. Even though he was doing his best to convince her otherwise. She knew perfectly well what Stockholm syndrome was thank you very much.

“You haven’t answered my question” she shoots back instead.

“When I saw you, in that garden making the world come alive with your beauty I was done for. I couldn’t look away. For millennia I watched from afar as my family snuck around behind each other’s backs having little tryst after tryst before being dragged back to their marriage bed. I saw your friends Elena and Katerina sowing desire and discord in their turn. Love was a weakness. We are not human and we do not care. And then I saw you. A rose among thorns.  I tried to stop thinking about you and I failed. Is it so hard to believe that I fancy you?”

“Yes!” Caroline finally snaps back desperately. His words are so charming and he looks so sincere, leaning forward on his throne, trying to catch her eye. He doesn’t look like the God of Death, he looks like a man consumed by fire. Caroline runs her fingers through her hair and tries to think about how to get this road trip to disaster back on the highway to success.

“No it isn’t. It’s the fact that you fancy me back isn’t it?” Klaus rises from his throne gracefully and stalks towards her like a predator “The fact that I see you for all that you are, the fact that a part of you is enjoying who you’re becoming rather than the girl you once were. You like being strong, fearless. That for all the fact that I went about this the wrong way, I recognised you as my equal and my likeness and elevated you above all but the chosen few. I want you. Just you. I want you to have everything you desire, everything it is in my power to give you.” He’s right in front of her now, so close that if one of them leans forward that’s all it would take. But he won’t. She knows he won’t. He’s never forced a woman he said. He wanted her to choose him.  “We’re the same, Caroline.”

Like hell.

He’s talking as if he knows her. They’d spent what three to four hours in each other’s company? Whittle that down to 40 minutes where she wasn’t screaming at him as he tried to seduce her into liking him. First her mom’s telling her what to do all the time, then Elena and Bonnie, Elijah and now Klaus! When did other people start making decisions about her life, telling her who she was? Or better yet, why had Caroline never taken proper control of her life? And why was it Klaus who was making her realise this?!

Caroline shakes her head. She turns away, shaking her head so that her golden curls slap him in the face. Nobody decides who Caroline is but Caroline. She chose her name, she chooses who she keeps around her and she’ll choose who she is thank you very much.

“Really? So you’ve never felt the attraction to someone capable of terrible things who for some reason cares only about you, _my love_?”

“So what you thought you’d steal me? Bypass my word for some royal decree! You’ll never have me because you don’t understand me, you don’t even try to connect!” The lie weighs heavy on her tongue as she thinks of the beautiful crown on her dresser. But he’s trying the sympathy vote and she won’t have that.

But on the other hand, he’s gotten under her skin and he knows it. Caroline’s lost control of the situation now and she wasn’t prepared for such rebuttals. How was it possible for him to make her question her own feelings like this?

Caroline turns her back, ignoring his call that she’s making assumptions. So has he! She’s ready to leave. She’s reiterated the position she’s stated for the last nine months. This hasn’t worked so it’s back to the drawing board. There’s a guttural, snarling sound, Klaus’ smart shoes tapping on the granite floor brisk and sure.

How could someone so beautiful, so enthralling be so infuriating?! Couldn’t she see, couldn’t she understand how hard he was trying? The lengths he was going to in order to accommodate this exceptional creature and she couldn’t even do him the decency of hearing him out! He’d gone about this all wrong, acted irrationally – even he could admit he hadn’t been thinking clearly when he’d gone to Elijah rather than asking Elizabeth for an introduction but he’d thought they were making progress.

“DON’T TURN YOUR BACK ON ME!” he roars desperately and utilising that Godly speed she’s come to hate so much within seconds is in front of her once more.

“I TURNED MY BACK ON YOU AGES AGO” she screams back, drawn up to her full height at his audacity, the essence of magnificence.

Caroline’s wolf, that had been waiting at the door for her snarls upon hearing her distress and comes stalking into the chamber. Once it’s beside her, she grabs at Sol’s fur to stop him attacking Klaus. She’s heard the rumours about how he can kill with one touch.

Klaus regards the new arrival with interest, anger dissipating at the new element though the warmth she’d seen in his eyes has slipped away.

“I see Enzo’s little runt decided to accompany you.” The sneer is back in his voice full force and she hates it. Caroline had begun to think they could be reasonable about this. If he wants to give her what she wants, he’ll do this for her. Before her fist connected with his face. In everything she’s seen of Klaus in the time she was down here originally (when she’d finally ventured out of her room before she died of boredom) he’d never spoken like that in her direct earshot.

Caroline runs her fingers through Sol’s fur lightly, partly to show her distaste over his tone and partly to ensure she doesn’t accidently kill Sol by not being able to control her own strength as she informs Klaus that the wolf was a present.

Klaus sneer drops when she asks why he appears to dislike the Sun God so much.

“Enzo’s your childhood love.  Your best friend. Your continued devotion and loyalty to a man who despite your continued rebuttals of his affection and the way his lifestyle offends your sensibilities is enviable. The same could be said of all your friends in all honesty. They don’t deserve you.”

So Enzo, Bonnie, Elena, Katherine and Kol sleep around (and crap this is most of her friends to be honest)  so what? They’re her friends and they love her. And he’s scaled down the flirting to an absolute minimum. In fact if Enzo didn’t casually flirt with her she’d be scared. It’s just who he was, there was nothing in it anymore.

Klaus is so close now. When did he get so close to them? Sol’s is snarling lowly and she sends some of her magic down into his fur to help the creature’s mood lighten. Caroline takes a deep breath, which doesn’t help in calming her down because it means inhaling his scent.

Fucking hell isn’t there a part of him that she doesn’t find attractive? She hates the way she stumbles over the words when she sneers back and asks whether he does deserve her, her love, her affection. He seems to have calmed down somewhat, even looks a little resigned and even though she doesn’t want to, Caroline can’t help but believe his words when he takes one extra step and speaks.

“Right now, I would treasure your friendship alone. But I won’t give up on you Caroline. On us. However long it takes. And maybe in a year, or in a century, you’ll show up at my door and take me up on my offer.”

The declaration when it comes makes Caroline catch her breath. He’s so close, their noses could touch. If either of them closed that last inch they would could – no! This is so, so wrong. She has to get out of here. Turning on her heel, careless of whether he tries to engage her again and a little bit daring him to stop her, Caroline stalks out of the throne room yelling desperately for Jeremy.

Klaus lets her go without a fight. He could see the hurt in her eyes and wonders what set her off on this path down to his realm. Ignoring him had been her preferred mode of operation and if she’d bothered to read his letters she’d have seen his countless efforts to apologise and get to know her. The thank you card had inflamed him with hope, as reckless as that was. He’ll write to Kol, Stefan or Rebekah and see if they can shed light on what occurred upstairs to upset his wife to such an extent. She was finding this stressful enough without those morons straining her further. He’ll be having words with Elijah about Caroline’s happiness he thinks. Finn doesn’t give a fig, safe with Sage and their waves of children in his underwater abode.

Thinking about it, that’s the longest conversation they’ve actually had. And despite the undercurrents of pain both of them are evidently feeling, the rawness of it had felt good.

Maybe for them that is progress.

Ω

Caroline returns to find another raven, along with two scrolls. Tired and irritated as she is, she can’t help but wonder how extensive his last word is that it has to have two pages to it. Only one of them isn’t writing at all but a beautiful sketch of her, in her crown no less. It’s an undeniably amazing rendering, it looks as if Sketch-Caroline could actually speak. Do her eyes really blaze like that?

Intrigued she unrolls the smaller scroll, letting the raven nibble at her finger affectionately.

_Thank you for your honesty._

Combined with that burning look in his own eyes, that makes her wonder when this connection grew so incendiary, Caroline wishes she’d asked him and his expensive jewellery and his romantic drawings to leave her alone.

She had never actually asked him to leave her alone, let alone utter the word divorce.

Fuck.

Ω

**Month IV**

So Caroline goes back to ignoring her husband. She throws herself into her experiments with more gusto than ever before. She always starts small and then adapts her babies as she grows more confident. The Venus flytrap comes in the first few days (named for Elena after she’d questioned its effectiveness and been effectively bitten in return after poking her finger where it didn’t belong).

Tobacco comes when her anger flares one day over everyone just accepting this and expecting her to do the same and she wants to breathe fire.

 Nutmeg when she feels sick and wants to forget.

Dolls eyes arrive when Damon tells her to ‘Get over it doll’. He’s very smug about it until she’s the one standing over him as he suffers a heart attack for the first time.

He leaves her alone after that.

Klaus on the other hand sends a bejewelled rendering of that particular creation and his hearty congratulations over her ingenuity. Damon’s wars may provide Klaus with a great deal of subjects but apparently the surge of paperwork is horrendous and Klaus doesn’t actually like that method.

Not that she’s paying him attention or anything. Anyway, this is quickly followed by a second rather bashful letter that makes him sound like a scolded boyfriend who kept her out past curfew mentioning that he hopes  she’s well and she should really talk to mother because Liz had apparently threat Klaus with a famine if he didn’t stop encouraging what Liz had called Caroline’s ‘downward spiral’

 _Gee thanks Mom_ , Caroline said under her breath as she read that, sending a quick glance her mother’s way across the greenhouse.

She shouldn’t, but in retaliation at her mother the Castor Oil and Jequirity plants arrive. They’re a new record, killing in 3-5 days or depending on the animal it’s only a matter of the number of seeds. Ducks are surprisingly resilient in tolerance but she’ll work on that.

Ω

They sort of fall into correspondence after that. Klaus’ attentions are more…attentive. He doesn’t inundate anymore but still writes regularly, a smattering of news she might not have heard or the story of a Shade he thinks she’ll find particularly interesting. He also tells her about Olympian politics, things the main 12 keep to themselves usually and in return she finds herself writing back. He’s honest, he treats her like the ancient being she is rather than the child she once was, he listens to her opinion and acts accordingly.

It also helps, she thinks shamefully, that she never has to see him during this back and forth, never has to admit that the more she learns the more intrigued she becomes. He’s not as vile as she thought he was. Or vile at all.

It’s only a few sentences at first – exclamations of disbelief over something or concurrence regarding something else but like everything with Caroline touches, their correspondence can’t help but grow.

Ω

 _Why ravens?_ Caroline asks in a letter because this particular curiosity has been nagging at her for ages. And no matter the question, since their argument, Klaus will always answer her. She knows Enzo’s side of the story, sending the harbingers to Hades for bringing the news of Coronis death. But she’s never known why Klaus actually took the birds on as his messengers.

_They’re loyal and honest. And they convey messages of doom perfectly. Plus they’re eaters of carrion.  I see no reason why not._

_But they were Enzo’s first?_

The corresponding letter is actually in an envelope. Caroline doesn’t realise until she’s already ripped the seal away from the page and unfolded it that Klaus had put it in an envelope because he knew she’d actually read it.

_Yes. They gave him news he disliked, something I am well acquainted with myself and he disowned them entirely. I may not care for bad news, but bad news is bad news regardless of how it comes. Loyalty however is a rare jewel._

He had admired her loyalty she remembered. Praised her honesty. 

The letter continued, a piece of personal information he so rarely included. _Truthfully, I would have preferred hummingbirds but they were taken._

She stares at the last two lines, one part of her imagining death and doom brought by a colourful hummingbird, flickering with all life’s rapidity.

The other part is more consumed by his question regarding the stick of cinnamon she had rolled into the last letter (he still manages to get the last word) and how he observes and understands her on a level few others have ever attempted.

 _Friends then_?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cinnamon - symbolic of friendship
> 
>  
> 
> All the plants that Caroline creates after her chat with Klaus are all very deadly in the wrong quantities. I wanted to show her anger and her darkness here. Somebody actually shot himself after touching the Gympie-Gympie he couldn't live with the pain. Nutmeg can cause nausea and memory loss, Doll's eyes cause cardiac arrest. 
> 
> Achlys - the Goddess Caroline feels she does proud is according to some ancient cosmogonies, the eternal Night (perhaps the Mist of Death, which fell before the eyes preceding death), and the first created being which existed even before Chaos.
> 
> Castor Oil and the other plant contain Abrin and Ricin which in the wrong quantities/ untreated can kill humans in 3-5 days. Ducks as stated above have a weird tolerance - its takes 80 seeds before they die.


	3. Half Goddess, Half Hell

_You’re my mortal flaw_

_And I’m your fatal sin._

**Month V**

It all goes to Tartarus in the fifth month.

Caroline wakes slowly, rumpled as Sunday morning to the smell of carnations, amaranth and the crinkle of Klaus’ last letter on her pillow. He’d taken to call her ‘Hamartia’, if she was pedantic it meant she was an error, a bad shot. He knows from the many things she’d thrown at him during her original stay in the Underworld, which was anything close to hand that this isn’t true. If anything, he helped her practise. So instead she thinks of its more poetic, literary meaning. He’s a poetic man after all. For someone who hated leaving himself vulnerable, Caroline would take that as a compliment.

That is, until Enzo barrels his way into her room, twisting this way as he bats at Corvus, her favourite raven who is frantically nipping and flapping around the God’s head. “Yes, yes, I’m telling her, I’m telling her!” Corvus abandons his harassment of Enzo in favour of fluttering anxiously around Caroline’s head instead. The ravens adore Caroline, happy to have her as mistress for her gentility and the happiness she brings their master. Reaching out for him, she coos sleepily at the bird, trying to get him to stop stuttering long enough to form a coherent sentence so that she can understand this rude awakening.

Tutting, Enzo strides over to the bed and snaps a steamer trunk into existence, narrowly missing Caroline’s toes. “We’ve gotta pack you up Gorgeous” he orders, hands coming to rest on his hips. Pressing a kiss to Corvus’ head, Caroline swings free of the bedclothes, transferring the bird to his perch beside her bed and making sure she doesn’t step on Sol [who is so used to Enzo barging in that he hasn’t even woken up] she gets up and contemplated Enzo more fully.

He looks rough, both physically and emotionally, clothes as torn up as his expression. “What the hell happened to you?” she asks, voice growing shriller with every word as her brain wakes up properly.

“Mikael is back”

Caroline’s stomach plummets. The former King of the Gods, Klaus’ father, had been imprisoned in Tartarus after being overthrown. There had been talks recently (she’s only in the know thanks to Klaus epistolary pillow talk) by the Pantheon to perhaps free him after all this time. Suggestions had been made alternatively that he be made a judge of the Dead, something Klaus violently opposed. He had made a rare visit to Olympus, the same visit she’d later learned where he’d laid eyes on her for the first time. Caroline and Bonnie had walked Matt (much better than Hercules in her opinion) to the meeting and as he’d closed the doors they’d overheard Klaus shouting ‘No, no, no, no and did I mention NO”

The other suggestion was to let Mikael have Italy. This was something in which the King and Queen of the Underworld agreed on. Klaus couldn’t bear the idea of having his despised father out there in the world (Caroline supposes being swallowed will do that to a guy) whereas Caroline doesn’t want Mikael ruining the place before she’d had a chance to see Rome. Not to mention destroying her loved ones and everything she’s ever known.

Enzo’s kindly kept his mouth shut while Caroline processes this but when she finally meets his eyes he jumps into action. “You see why I have to get you out of here.”

Caroline glares at him, Enzo has never run from a fight and this may be her first one but she doesn’t intend to either. When she says as much the conflicted expression resurfaces and takes hold of her hands. When Enzo starts blithering on about how Klaus must love Caroline as much as he does and how the first thing her husband had done was sent Corvus to tell her to get the hell out of Olympus.

Caroline feels something soft and warm bloom in her heart at Enzo’s casual reference to both Klaus and his own love for her. Despite one being platonic and the other romantic, one reciprocated and one…well she doesn’t know. She does not love Klaus but she no longer hates and fears him either. She can see the part of him now that is not God or Death but simply Man. She likes him, has intentionally or not put a great deal of trust in him. He’s in the grey. That’s wrong actually. Klaus has always been clear about his feelings for her, his affection and wishes have been unwavering. She’s the one in the grey.

“What are you talking about?” she asks in her Apollo-Don’t-Fuck-With-Me voice. Enzo may be older than her, might have known her for the entirety of her life but she’s the adult in their friendship and everyone knows it.

It turns out that Enzo had intercepted the bird, which rude, but she supposes there are extenuating circumstances at work. Anyway the long and the short of it is, he’s come to help Klaus in getting her out of Olympus and to a secure location where Mikael will never find her. It keeps his best friend safe, gets Rebekah off his back and Klaus has promised to bring Cassandra back to life if Enzo complies.

Which, what?

“Think about it Caroline. Mikael’s been trapped in Tartarus… _Hades._ Klaus, Elijah, Finn they’re the ones he hates the most and he might be coming for Elijah but he’ll sure as hell annihilate Klaus along the way and everything he holds dear. Which is pretty much _you.”_

That….well that makes a lot of sense actually. But she’s Persephone, she’s a Queen. Queens don’t run. Queens conquer. He knows that look but seeing it amplified like that makes him want to take a step back. Caroline’s been different lately…less flighty more determined. Sure of herself, strong, confident. Traits that have always been there but that she’s finally owning.

To his detriment at this moment in time “Gorgeous…” he growls frustrated, pinching the bridge of his nose at the futility of trying to reason with her.

“I’m staying Enzo. This might be my first fight but I won’t leave you. Besides I thought Klaus respected my choices now so like hell that’s happening if  he doesn’t want me taking Cerberus away from him” She squeezes his hands back and Enzo sees for the millionth time what he knows Klaus must also see whenever he looks at his wife. Because its what Enzo saw when he looked at Cassandra.

The internal beauty that comes from the courage of one’s conviction. Enzo sighs. Philia and Agape are as dangerous a combination as anything Caroline’s been keeping in her greenhouse lately. He knows Caroline and loves her as unconditionally as he does Rebekah. And he also knows that neither he nor Klaus (who no matter his methods has done everything to keep Caroline safe) will be able to stop her now. But, as with Rebekah, with Cassandra, if Caroline’s leading the charge he can at least watch her six.

Ω

Which is why Enzo and Caroline are plucking thyme, lemon blossom, angelica, bay, sage, dill and every other useful thing they can think of watching Olympians rushing past the garden gate and upsetting Caroline’s rosemary as she delicately slices off stems.

Enzo is being optimistic about the whole thing, given that they’ve had relatively good warning and he doesn’t have to worry about Caroline too much, or at least as much as he would have originally, given her ability to set things on fire now.

“Don’t count your chickens just yet Enzo”

“Fine” he says solemnly, aware of her tension and stress enough to not take it personally. That is until he smirks ever so slightly, if she hadn’t known him for centuries she’d miss it.

“Can I count yours?”

“Enzo!”

She shouldn’t snap at him to get a move on but she does because the home that she and Liz share is relatively far from the main streets of Olympus, so that her gardens and mother’s vegetables could grow uninterrupted. Thinking strategically this is both beneficial and problematic.

On the one hand, Mikael is almost certainly going to head for the main Pantheon building, where the senior Gods sit in council. He’ll be after Elijah first, who was the one to usurp him after all. But Hayley, Elena, Damon, Stefan, Matt, Rebekah and the others will not be safe for long. So in a way, being as far as possible is a benefit because she is out of the immediate firing line. Depending on the location of other Gods and immortals, she could lead a counter attack.  Also, Caroline thinks selfishly as she feels Enzo’s fingers intertwine with her own, her best friend is safe. She can see him, feel him, whole and warm next to her.

On the other hand, she should be with her family, together they are strong and united, divided geographically or otherwise they will surely fall. So she will head into the heart of the fire to stand by her family. And she knows without asking, Enzo will be beside her (Klaus’ orders and his own personal feelings on her safety be damned)

Caroline sends her ravens, parrots, chickens, bats, rams, monkeys and Sol with the various herbs to the other Gods. They might not think much of her protections but none of them are stupid enough to reject any protection available. Stage one complete. Stage Two is far more active.

Corvus is the only one to stay with her and Enzo, as her quickest and most assured connection to Klaus. She had no idea whether he was even still alive but she trusts Corvus to find him, alive or wherever they go when they die. Tyler, who had been God of the Wild, had disappeared years ago. Voices had called out that the Great God Pan was dead and he had never been seen since. She’d always liked Tyler but she knew thinking of him now wouldn’t help her keep her focus.

 The loyal creature does leave briefly to deliver Klaus’ protective flora which is the same as everyone elses with a small addition of edelweiss,  mistletoe, primrose, azelea and palm leaves. Okay, maybe not that small but its everything she was working up to saying and she’d rather say it now than have it be too late by even a second. He’ll know what she means. Klaus may have forced her hand, but she has learned that things in life will happen, even Gods are not safe from life. Nor death. And now Caroline is caught in the liminal. She thinks of Janus and his doorways, always looking forward, always looking back.

A door once opened may be stepped through in either direction.

She cannot bear to leave behind Life, her family, her friends, her flowers. But she had not realised that Death could hold such possibilities, that with Death she could be strangely better off, that  Death made her free.

 _It is not a crime to love what you cannot explain Caroline._ One of the sentences from his letters floats back to her. She had been so angry with Katherine, Elena and Stefan who seemed to glide through this existence without consideration for her feelings. Caroline didn’t mind being corrected on facts, she’d done it herself plenty of times, but being told her opinions, her expressions  on things were silly and wrong as if that were the final word on the matter made her blood boil. Yet, still, she loved her friends, craved their good graces. It was infuriating.  She had vented it all to him, at a loss of actual advice. Bonnie never really chose sides, Enzo hadn’t been here and Liz shrugged it off as younger Gods petty squabbling.  It was as if he was in the room with her, like she could feel the pain of the admission in his voice. From what she’d grilled out of Rebekah, Elijah and Stefan, Klaus did not love and did not care. Except for her. And maybe that had tormented him more than she had realised. Maybe she wasn’t the only one who had given into this, albeit a bit later on.

They all of them gave life in their own ways, her to the Earth, Stefan to fire, Elena to love, Damon to war. They had most of them give death also but Klaus had begun to make her realise that after those facts, for those are the only two things Caroline thinks you can call facts, you cannot control happens after. Her flowers grow in their own way. Death treads with a light foot through the houses of the poor and rich alike.

And so, she supposes in an odd way, life is liminal. It is the thing that happens when you are on your way elsewhere, in between thresholds. It is the perks of immortality Caroline thinks that she is so beloved that life could not bear to let her go and that Death, that Klaus will not force his touch upon her.

Yet she finds herself pulled in anyway. And as an immortal, she has a luxury the humans, the demi-gods do not. She can step through the door in whichever direction she chooses for as long as she chooses.

Perhaps she can choose him. Someday…. _However long it takes._

But it gives her courage. He is alive. She had not been ready for there not to be a someday anymore.  And if Klaus can survive what Corvus tells them was a devastating attack on his home (their home a traitorous voice says in her mind) then so can Caroline.

How strange to think that its only months ago she would’ve sent anemones and aster and peach blossom would have an entirely different connotation. 

She’s sick of having her hand forced. Mikael’s going to end up in bitesize chunks when she’s through with him.

Ω

As Caroline predicted, it is the fact that when they stand together, when Mikael faces them all, that they cannot lose.

That isn’t to say it wasn’t close. That mistakes were made. But she hopes that they’ll learn and in so doing earn their peace. Mikael had been after Elijah and Finn mainly, which actually meant the other Gods were at an advantage. Because he wanted to kill Elijah and Finn first, deal with the rest of his children later, they have time to co-ordinate to take him down.

Everyone seemed a little surprised when Caroline had caused a massive beanstalk to erupt in the middle of the throne room. Apparently the mortals on Earth had actually noticed that one, but their blaming the giants rather than her. Whether the looks on the others faces was because of the viciousness with which Caroline had created the plant and sent it straight at Mikael’s back or the fact that she’d managed such a powerful feat whilst the Titan was choking her she isn’t quite sure.

In the midst of the battle, after Stefan and Damon, working together for once had managed to get Mikael pinned down in order for Katherine to begin the dismemberment Mikael’s head had twisted and his eyes had fallen on her, stood next to Bonnie ready to fend off attack, while Bonnie was tending to Enzo. It’s really awkward when your medical support is the one who needs healing. Jeremy’s the one who suggests he must have recognised her from the several paintings Klaus had done of her. She knew she should’ve made more of a point of getting him to stop sketching her.

Seeing one of your most hated children’s spouses is apparently grounds for reinvigorating your revenge plan if they way he’d thrown off three of the most vicious Gods she knows and charged at her was anything to go by.  She didn’t think she had in her to die, although she has a healthy respect for the process, actually dying isn’t something she’d ever contemplated.

She and Bonnie never had figured out whether Gods went to the Underworld when they died or somewhere else.

She couldn’t imagine never seeing Klaus again.

Anyway, she has enough power left to send the plant straight at Mikael, pulling him off her and sending him hurtling across the floor. To lie straight at Klaus’ feet.

Klaus is just as beaten up as the rest of them, armour nearly hanging off in places, blood trickles thickly from a gash on his forehead. If it’s that bad now, Caroline can only imagine what it looked like two hours ago when the news came that Mikael was on his way. He must have nearly smashed Klaus’ head in. There are hundreds of safeguards in place to stop the Titans rising. They’re there not only to protect Klaus but to buy time against Time himself.

Klaus hasn’t even bothered to look around properly, his eyes are staring straight at her. It’s a complicated look for a complicated relationship. He looks torn, a look filled with love [there’s no denying it, and surely Elena’ll do her nut] and frustration. It was more intimate than any letter and it felt wrong to have the others see it.  He had wanted her to be _safe_ , had done everything he could think of to keep her so and in the end, when push came to shove she hadn’t needed him.

If it wasn’t for the fact that his monster of a father had actually harmed her, harmed their families, their society, he’d be beaming with pride. Caroline looks exhausted and quietly relieved, a small smile pulling at her lips, eyes alight with satisfaction. Whether it’s over his arrival or the impressive feat she’s just completed he doesn’t know but he hopes it’s a bit of both.

A nod passes between them, that says everything no letter or flower in that moment could express. _I’m glad you’re safe. It’s me, I’m here. I won’t leave you. Thank you for coming. Thank you for surviving. The world would be incomplete without you in it._

But instead of speaking to her, rushing to her, Klaus looks down at the crumpled mess at his feet. No matter his own desires to be able to have her properly checked over, he knows that in this moment, he has his job to do.

“Hello Father” he smiles down toothily, feels fangs descending and his eyes glowing yellowish with Ichor, burning through his irises with the sheer power. Caroline later says that Klaus blue eyed and bare chested in the late morning on the sapphire sheets of their bed is the real Klaus. The one who cradles their children close and teaches them to walk, who is everything his own father was not. Who takes in a nameless boy and raises him as their own, spending decades making up for what Marcel’s true father did. Who practises mercy and recognises goodness by allowing those who willingly walk into his realm to restore a loved one leave freely. The man Mikael will never know.

Klaus will kiss her hands and wonder what he did, how such a creature as Caroline, pure light made flesh, fell in love with him.

But that is the beginning of another story.

“Goodbye Father” Klaus reaches down and plucks Mikael off the ground by his throat like a daisy. Despite the crushing grip he has on Mikael’s windpipe, the other man can still talk. It really is lucky they’re immortal. This would be no fun if he was dead already. Klaus thinks of looking at Caroline but thinks better of it. This is old, not new family business. This moment is for Rebekah, Kol, Elijah and even Finn as well as himself. They gather around him wordlessly as the other Olympians watch.

“I was almost tempted to leave you whole this time. Strip you of your immortality and leave you to rule Italy for ooh twenty years or so as we had discussed. But then you went after _my wife._ I think when you find out my plans for you now, you’ll comprehend just how large that mistake was.” Then almost conversationally, Klaus cocks his head at Elijah and says “Brother, shall we do the honours?”

They take Mikael apart, burn the Ichor from his blood and spread him across the world, so far apart that the pieces will never find each other again.

Ω

All the Gods are congratulating themselves on a job well done when he comes to take his leave. They are, as always, completely ignoring Caroline and the fact that she is the one who took Mikael down essentially. He’s hovering outside listening until he can take it no longer. Throwing open the doors he strides into the throne room.

“LISTEN UP YOU SELF RIGHTEOUS GLOW-WORMS” here, having garnered their embarrassing attention spans, he pauses, settles himself. Catches Caroline’s eye and smiles “Hello sweetheart” he says gently, smiling just for her. Then, “I suggest you use a little less of this” he mimes chattering and “a little more of these” he flicks at his ears to emphasis his point “Caroline was the one who took Mikael down. Caroline is the one the mortals are praising outside of my family and myself. Actually, I take that back, given that Caroline is family, you’ve really got nothing to congratulate yourself about so I suggest you treat her with a little more respect. Then  do us all a favour and go back to staring at yourselves”

Ω

Klaus does not see Caroline after that, busy restoring his beloved home and altering it to make it more comfortable for her. For them.

This slightly backfires when Corvus arrives with an indignant letter. The bloody bird even nips Klaus which must have been on Caroline’s orders (the little suck up). Although Klaus is pleasantly surprised to find that rather than a dressing down for assuming that she would actually be returning rather than tying herself to the Earth as promised Caroline is actually upset that he didn’t consult her first before making changes.

She’s included a _swatches._ Bloody hell.

He sends back lily of the valley and hopes she doesn’t think he’s being sarcastic. Miffed certainly. He’s lived alone for a thousand years by this point but he’s not stupid, he saw her fling Mikael across that room like a piece of tissue.

 

**Month VI**

In the end, it doesn’t take a year, or even a century.

Caroline has always like calendars.

They’re perfect for her role, for festivals, for making sure the right buds bloom at the right time. Now though, she hates them. Clocks too. She’s sure since Mikael died, time has slowed down. It sucks.

She’s bouncing on her feet, waiting for Liz to get back. Over the past few weeks, Liz who as long as she knows where Caroline is every second of every day, generally will let her go off and do her thing (and look how that turned out) now sticks to her like glue.

Nevertheless, autumn is here which means the harvest and so Liz is busier than ever. It’s all Klaus’ fault but right now Caroline doesn’t want to hear the same diatribe all over again. Jeremy’s waiting with her and Enzo, who has promised to visit and insisted on making the trip with them even though its not his actual job.

Liz comes barrelling in wearing a stormy look which soon melts when she sees the trio of young deities waiting for her. Sadness paints itself on her features and she locks Caroline into an embrace so tight she can’t breathe.

“You look beautiful. I hate to say it but that suits you. If he tries anything, _anything,_ if he so much as looks at you funny or offers you water from the Rivers, I’ll kill him”

More hugging. More crying. It’s only when Jeremy says its nearly sundown and they _have to fucking go_ that Liz and Caroline let go of each other. Caroline readjusts her crown and takes Enzo’s hand, ready at last.

Caroline bursts into the throne room, throwing the doors open. She hopes he’ll appreciate the symmetry. She notes the stephanotis and Klaus stunned expression and is absurdly pleased by both.

She marches up to him, sticks out her hand by way of greeting “Give me the fucking fruit, Klaus. I’m not asking, I’m telling.”

“Yes” he replied faintly, a touch of awe in his voice. Di immortales, but she was stunning, “Not that I’m complaining love but what changed your mind?”

“Oh some assholes I used to think were my friends set me up in a blind marriage with this guy. But I screwed up, I fell for him.”

“Literally” Klaus joked, eyeing the hole in the ceiling.

“Seriously?! Aren’t you like a bazillion or something, you couldn’t have come up with something better than that?”

Ω

Klaus had never been prouder and even a little (read significantly) glad he was married to her rather than opposing her when Caroline tricked Orpheus. Then there was the Adonis incident.

Elijah had come down to the Underworld to ask Adonis be restored to life, Hayley and Elena were apparently locked in a battle of wills. Typical. Caroline pulled her flowery crown off and held it out to Klaus  waiting hand “Hold this”

He’d also been rather gleeful when Caroline had asked him to create a vanitas painting, a skull crowned in laurel leaves for her to send as a subtle reminder that Death is a certainty even Gods can succumb to. She had wanted to remind them that everything they hold dear will one day be hers. In return, she produces a rose that contains their wedding rings, because if she is bound to him, then he is bound to her and she wants a reminder for him for when she is gone, beyond simple rosemary. 

In return, Enzo calls her a perky blonde angel of death and gets punched for his trouble. Both husband and best friend know that only they can get away with that. Anyone else would be incinerated.

But to Klaus, even after they’ve been married for millennia, he still remembers the way she had ripped into that second pomegranate, how the juice had dripped like blood down her chin. How she’d licked her lips, tossed it to one side and pulled him close by the collar. How their first kiss had been one of pure longing fulfilled and Caroline had whispered “Good” against his lips.

How seconds later she had pulled away from Klaus, far enough that she could see his face but still entwined together and immediately said “But seriously, you have to let me decorate in here!”

And so Death’s laughter echoed throughout the palace for an entirely different reason than you might think.

_**But Persephone turned,** _

_**pomegranate juice staining her lips and chin and hands,** _

_**and smiled at you over her shoulder with suddenly pointed teeth.** _

_**And you knew: she had taken hell hostage, not the other way around.** _

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, thank you so much! 
> 
> The reaction to this work has been so positive and I'm so pleased you've enjoyed it. It started out as a writing exercise and I'm really pleased with how it's turned out. 
> 
> Klaus gives her stephanotis – happiness in marriage and desire to travel
> 
> Klaus protective flowers: Mistletoe – kisses, to surmount difficulties, later myrtle – love, palm – victory and success, primrose – I can’t live without you, edelweiss – daring, courage, azaelea – take care of yourself for me, peach blossom - you've captured my heart
> 
> The blooms she thinks she would've sent Klaus in the first month  
> anemones [forsaken] and aster [afterthought] and peach blossom would have an entirely different connotation [captive]
> 
> Lily of the valley – you’ve made my life complete
> 
> The protective flowers Caroline gives the Gods:  
> Rosemary – protection, remembrance  
> Dill – good against evil  
> Angelica – inspiration  
> Sage - wisdom, secrecy  
> Thyme – Courage  
> Lavender – protection  
> Bay – glory  
> Lemon blossom – discretion 
> 
>  
> 
> Persephone and Hades kept chickens. Go figure.

**Author's Note:**

> This was meant to be a drabble and is....so not a drabble going by the length. 
> 
> Pheme - Goddess of Gossip
> 
> Dice - Goddess of Justice
> 
> Rosemary for remembrance, cinnamon for friendship,  
> I hope you liked it! xxx


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